Ranking member of subcommittee for Opening Statement. Thank you, there chairman. And i know mr. Meadows will be here shortly. Federal employees who blow the whistle on waste, fraud and abuse are in the front lines in the effort to ensure that our government functions efficiently and effectively. This committee has a long history of strong bipartisan support for those whistleblowers and i want to thank the chairman, mr. Meadows, for holding todays hearing. Whistleblower protection is rooted in Civil Service protections. Due process and meritbased hiring and promotion free of discrimination, retaliation and political influence form the bedrock of the very whistleblower protections we are concerned about and have been for a long time on this commit even subcommittee. Five years ago, the bipartisan whistleblower protection enhancement act of 2012 significantly strengthened the rights of federal employees who disclose waste, fraud and abuse. This legislation marks substantial progress but as we discovered, gaps remain and we must continue to work to protect all federal employees who disclose wrongdoing. I look forward to hearing from our Witnesses Today about challenges to protecting those whistleblowers under current law such as vacancies at the mspb, loopholes for sensitive positions, retaliatory investigations as well as proposals to address those challenges. In fact, tomorrow, this committee, the oversight and government reform committee, will be marking up a bill that i cosponsored, hr657, to follow the rules act. Last year our federal court ruled that an employee who refused to obey an order is protected from retaliation only if that order violates a statute which was never the intent of the law. This bill clarifies that the whistleblower protection act as originally intended protects employees who refuse to violate a rule or regulation. It need not be a statute. Legislative changes will not be enough. Congress must provide inspectors general and the office of special counsel with the resources they need to investigate and enforce whistleblower protections under the law. For example, we have heard reports of egregious whistleblower retaliation at tsa. Osc has already taken action in some of those cases but there is a backlog. Without Additional Resources, these whistleblowers wont be protected. In fact, one hears descriptions at tsa that sound like the wild west. And a lot of cleanup has to occur there not only with whistleblowers but Performance Measurements and the like. Finally, we cant ignore the committees oversight responsibility. I was alarmed to hear news reports days after the inauguration that certain agencies had issued gag orders on certain Employee Communications. Fcertain employe communications. Ecertain employe communications. Dcertain employe communications. Ercertain employ communications. Acertain employe communications. Lcertain employe communications. Ertain Employee Communications. Rtain Employee Communications. Tain Employee Communications. Ain Employee Communications. In Employee Communications. N Employee Communications. Employee communications. One memo, issued by the acting secretary of the department of health and Human Services on the very first day in office of the new president states, i quote, no correspondence to Public Officials, that is members of congress, governors and the like, unless specifically authorized by me or my designee shall be sent between now and february 3rd. That language which ostensibly prevents an employee from speaking with members of congress on his own, appears to violate laws, however, a number of federal laws including the whistleblower protection enhancement act itself. It certainly sends a chilling message to our federal employees. Thats why i plan to send a letter to agency heads asking them what steps theyre taking to ensure that their communications to employees comply with the law. I ask my colleagues across the aisle to join in these oversight measures. Its my hope that moving forward, we can work in a bipartisan manner as we always have on this subject. We must assure that Civil Service and due process protections, the bedrock of the whistleblower protection enhancement act, remain in place and are vigorously enforced. We must provide diligent oversight to verify that agencies in this administration are implementing the protections required under the law. With that, i yield back. Welcome, mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman from virginia and the gentleman from florida for gaveling us in. I certainly thank each of you. My apologies for being tardy. The chair notes the presence of our colleagues from the full committee of oversight and government reform. We appreciate your interest in this topic and welcome your participation today. With that, i ask unanimous consent that all members of the committee on oversight and government reform be allowed to fully participate. Hearing no objection, so ordered. Im going to go ahead in the interest of time and skip my Opening Statement and actually go with recognizing each of you and lets hear from you on that. Dont worry, from chairman. I spoke for both of us. Theres no doubt about that. Knowing that we are attached at the hip. So we will hold the record open for five legislative days for any member who would like to submit a written statement. Mr. Chairman, could i ask just a quick unanimous consent request . I have a statement from National Treasury employees union for the record. I ask unanimous consent to be entered in the record. Without objection. So ordered. Thank you, my friend. Im pleased to welcome mr. Robert storch, Deputy Inspector general at the u. S. Department of justice. Welcome. Mr. Eric bachman, deputy special counsel for litigation and Legal Affairs at the u. S. Office of special counsel. Welcome. Mr. Thomas devine, legal director at the Government Accountability project and Miss Elizabeth hempowicz, policy counsel at the project on government oversight. Welcome to you all. Pursuant to Committee Rules we ask that all witnesses be sworn in before they testify. If you will please rise and raise your right hand. Do you solemnly swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth . Please let the record reflect all witnesses answered in the affirmative. In order to allow time for discussion, we would appreciate if you limit your testimony to five minutes. Mr. Storch, before i come to you, the chair recognizes the Ranking Member from the full committee, the gentleman from maryland, mr. Cummings, for an Opening Statement. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. I really appreciate your indulgence. I want to thank chairman meadows and Ranking Member connelly for this hearing today. Whistleblower protections are built on the foundation of our Civil Service system and its due process protections. I look forward to the testimony today on how we can continue to strengthen whistleblower laws to ensure that all federal employees who blow the whistle are protected. The topic of todays hearing is the whistleblower protection enhancement act of 2012 and it could not be a more timely subject. I was an original cosponsor of this bill which significantly expanded the protections available to government workers who risked their jobs to disclose wrongdoing, and we have had a number of them to come before us over my 21 years in this committee. Unfortunately, it appears that the Trump Administration in its first week has already violated the whistleblower protection enhancement act. Just last week, only days after President Trumps inauguration, we learned that federal agencies issued gag orders on federal Employee Communications including their communications with congress. For example, we have obtained one of these memos which was issued by the new acting secretary of the department of health and Human Services. This memo tries to prohibit federal employees from speaking to members of congress. Let me repeat that. The Trump Administration is trying to prohibit federal employees from speaking to members of congress. Something is absolutely wrong with that picture. On its face, this memo violates the whistleblower protection enhancement act because it does not include mandatory language that we in congress require to protect whistleblowers who want to report waste, fraud or abuse. We require and i quote, any disclosure policy, form or agreement, end of quote, to include a mandatory statement that it does not supersede the rights of employees, including specifically quote, communications with congress, end of quote. And we passed this unanimously. Now my understanding is that the Trump Administration first tried to deny that memo was sent to its employees. Then they reportedly sent out some kind of clarifying statement. But my understanding is that even the clarifying statement still failed to include the mandatory statement we required in the whistleblower protection enhancement act. Mr. Chairman, i ask that this committee, i ask this committee to seek and obtain all emails and other communications in the possession of anyone at hhs relating to this directive, its drafting, circulation and subsequent clarification, as well as any communications about prohibiting federal employees from speaking to congress. Will you join me in a letter to hhs and other agencies requesting those documents, mr. Chairman . Im just making a simple request, mr. Chairman. Would the gentleman from maryland repeat his request . Oh, sure. Sorry. I was otherwise engaged. Deer in the headlight look was because i had no idea what you requested. I didnt mean to catch you off guard. Mr. Chairman, you have been absolutely wonderful and a good bipartisan member and i really appreciate it. What i said, i asked the subcommittee to seek and obtain all the emails and other communications in the possession of anyone at hhs relating to a directive in the drafting, circulation and subsequent clarification as well as any communications about prohibiting federal employees from speaking to members of congress. I think that should be a nobrainer for most of us. The gentleman knows very well that regardless of who is in the white house, that the chairman believes that having open communication between members of the federal government and members of congress is something that should not be inhibited, and so certainly im open to following up and making sure that we get clarification and hopefully on this, making sure the message is loud and clear that an open and transparent government is not only something this Committee Supports but the administration supports as well. Thank you very much. I really appreciate it. Im almost finished, mr. Chairman. This is not the only action the Trump Administration has taken that could chill whistleblowers. In december, President Trumps Transition Team asked for the names of employees at the department of energy who had worked on Climate Change initiatives. Another Transition Team request was made to the state department for information regarding staffing and positions related to gender equity and violence against women. Just two days ago, white house Spokesman Sean Spicer announced that state Department Employees who voice dissent regarding President Trumps immigration order should quote, either get with the program or they can go. End of quote. To quote walter schaub, director of the office of government ethics, quote, tone from the top matters, end of quote. I fear the president s tone will discourage whistleblowers from reporting waste, fraud and abuse, exactly the opposite of what we hope to accomplish through the whistleblower protection enhancement act. Theres still time for this administration to change. In a letter i wrote with my colleague Ranking Member palone to white house counsel, we requested that the president take immediate action to rescind all policies on Employee Communications that do not comply with the whistleblower protection enhancement act. We also urged the president to issue an official statement making clear that all federal employees have the right to communicate with congress and will not be silenced or retaliated against for their disclosures. I urge the president to adopt these recommendations immediately and send a clear signal to federal employees that whistleblowers will be protected as this committee has made it clear on both sides of the aisle, we will protect whistleblowers to the nth degree. With that, mr. Chairman, i appreciate your indulgence and i yield back. I thank the gentleman. The chair is certainly committed to making sure that we have an open and transparent accountability and i think that that serves the american tax payer well regardless of party, regardless of any partisan outlook. So i look forward to working with not only the Ranking Member of the full committee but the Ranking Member of the subcommittee on that. With that, mr. Storch, i recognize you for five minutes. I apologize to some of your staff who was actually here earlier today. You are recognized for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman, Ranking Member connelly and members of the subcommittee. Whistleblowers perform an Invaluable Service when they come forward with what they reasonably believe to be evidence of wrongdoing and they should never suffer reprisal for doing so. Thank you for inviting me to speak about the Important Role the officers of the inspectors general play under the wpea with regard to informing whistleblowers about their rights and protections. I have served as a whistleblower ombuds person since the program was established. In 2012. In november of 2012, it was enacted requiring the creation of such positions in the offices of all president ially appointed Senate Confirmed igs and many designated federal entity igs have such programs as well. We are responsible under the act for educating Agency Employees about the prohibitions on retaliation for making protected disclosures and informing employees who have made or are contemplating making disclosures about their rights and remedies against retaliation. The doj, oig strongly supports reauthorization of this important provision. The oigs work in this area is entirely consistent with the importance of whistleblowers as reflected in the Inspector General act itself which specifically provides for oigs to receive and investigate complaints provided by Agency Employees and to protect their confidentiality and prohibits the taking of personnel actions against them for coming to us. Just as oigs are well placed within agencies, to detect and deter waste, fraud, abuse and misconduct, whistleblowers are very much at the front lines, direct witnesses to potential wrongdoing, and they play a Critical Role in bringing forward such information. Ensuring that whistleblowers are comfortable, informed and protected is therefore of central importance to the oigs core mission. We and many of our fellow oigs carry out our role under the wpea by creating and disseminating educational materials and conducting Training Programs. At dojoig we filmed an instructal video that is now required viewing for all doj managers and supervisors and Available Online for all employees. We also prepared informational flyers that have been posted in offices throughout the department with Contact Information for the oig and the office of special counsel, which plays a central role in addressing many cases of suspected reprisal. We have worked with the fbi and other components to develop particularized Training Programs for their work forces and in the case of the fbi, to address the specific Requirements Applicable to its employees including under the recently enacted fbi wpea. We and other oigs also prepared informational brochures for contractors, subcontractors and grantees and like many of our counterparts, created a robust page on our website with a range of information regarding whistleblower rights and protections. Shortly after the passage of the wpea, we worked through the council of the inspectors general to create a working group which meets quarterly to share information, discuss best practices and Current Issues and host speakers from within and outside government. Our colleagues from osc have been active participants providing their expertise and facilitating coordination and cooperation between osc and the oigs and representatives of many other leading groups includ